24: Faust - Faust

So Faust. I have a bit of a frustrated history with this record. In 1996 I visited Sheffield proper for the first time, got talking to the guy in Record Collector about Krautrock. He proffered Carnival In Babylon and Faust, for purchase, and I ummed and urred about it but went for Carnival in the end. Then, later that year, my birthday was approaching and on the wall of the long gone Jack's (on Division Street) was Faust for a reasonable price. It was probably a boot but by the time my birthday came round and I was somewhat flush it had vanished.

Thus I had to wait for the rather excellent Faust Wumme Years box set to come out and hear the first album. I already had Faust Tapes and IV and thus had a pretty good handle on what they were all about. The story of Faust is well covered in the book and in the box set but basically it was a producer (Uwe Nettlebeck) wangle over Polydor to build a studio and let them jam for (seemingly) ever and then produce records out of it all.

That the Faust Tapes are completely unique is clear but this record, more so than So Far, is actually quite similar to the Tapes. Despite consisting of 3 tracks a lot of the motifs and styles that appear on the Faust Tapes emerge here. So there are cuts up, there are tons and tons of echo on random noises there is a seeming wandering nature but unlike, e.g. the Cosmic Jokers, these wanderings really work. So where the CJ were seemingly cherry picking from a relatively short session you get the feeling that Faust recorded mountains of material and they picked out the best stuff out for this record.

Like all great records it sounds of itself and you hear the past and the present embedded in the sound. The opener is called Why don't you eat carrots? and, like Faust Tapes, mixes German and English lyrics, opening with the beatles. The lyrics aren't far off MF DOOM or similar "I ask you sick sailing sailors blind" but it's all over the place.

Meadow Meal, however, is a complete triumph - marginal cut ups, overlapping lyrics and some moments of real movement. Utterly fantastic, bonkers. The final track continues the same theme - again mixing German and English lyrics to make something otherworldly. The most amazing thing about Faust though is that even when you feel that they're just pissing about it sounds amazing, totally coherent and clear. It's an incredible sound to pull out of what seems like utter chaos. And even though they not constantly wigging out there's enough variation and invention to keep you interested. And then in the last minute or so comes the thing that only Faust seemingly can do - an almost whispered refrain over a beautiful lamenting guitar. Each word being said by a different person, utter nonsense "I lift my skirt when Voltaire turns" it's completely mesmerising and utterly stunning.

So now I regret not being able to buy this in the times I had the opportunity. It's hard to get across just how good Faust are and it's not immediately obvious that they are. But it's pretty much a musical (and life) rarity - a group that are utterly bursting with ideas and invention, given the space to make them real, and delivering on each one. It's incredible.